From My Point Of View
by crazytomboy78
Summary: Her heart just went nuts over him. Poor pepper had no idea what the rest of his life was like...


**Hey guys! I have tons of time to update and post tonight, so most of my work should be done by the time I have to go to bed and then some. I hope. Anyways, this is set at the beginning of Whiplash, but not the **_**beginning**_** beginning… and mostly told from Pepper's POV (narrator-told, though, not in actual first person.) which means that some parts in the story were not in the episode. **

**By the way, I do not own Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode 5, entitled by Marvel and DC studios 'Whiplash' or any other part of the series, including the characters and/or anything else.**

She started sipping at the drink as she watched him walk away. She wasn't so much upset about him not giving her the time of day; that was just Tony being Tony. She was sighing because as she watched him walk down the hall and stared at the back of the head, she remembered how much she was starting to love him and how agonizing it was for her to be away from him each second of her day. It almost pained her not to tell him; and this was nothing yet. She just met him. This was just the beginning. The only reason she'd said a word to him in the first place was because when she'd first laid eyes on him in person she knew she had to introduce herself. That plus his arrival was suspicious at the time.  
"You really like him don't you?" Rhodey asked from behind Pepper, startling her out of her state of admirational thought.  
"What? Who, me? N-no...maybe, I mean, just a little..." Pepper muttered as she walked down the hall to get to her next class, which of course required passing Tony and Sir Snide-Smug-and-Jerky. Rhodey followed.  
"Why does he have to be so oblivious? It's like he doesn't have time to notice anything about my feelings." Pepper complained. Rhodey sighed. If only she knew.  
"He's...got a lot going on in his life right now, believe me..." Rhodey said. Pepper sighed deeply and heavily. She just wanted him to notice her, just a little bit more.  
Pepper and Rhodey took their seats in their shared science class; Pepper's, of course, just had to be behind Tony's seat. _All the better to admire him in, _Pepper thought. She watched as Tony took his seat as he waved at her in a friendly manner. She sighed admiringly. He'd never have any clue how much her heart ached for him; how she would never have the courage to simply flirt with him. She watched as he turned back to Rhodey to talk about god knows what. She stared at the back of Tony's gorgeous brunette head and sighed once more. Every time she looked into his eyes, she felt her heart beat harder. Every time he winked at her, she could feel her heart skip a beat. Pepper tried to keep a straight face so no one would notice anything, but occasionally glanced at him. She rolled her eyes at him secretly when he tried to make a correction during class. How arrogant he got sometimes...  
That's when a man in a grey suit came in wishing to speak with Pepper. She saw the curiosity written on her two friends' faces and listened to the "oooh"'s and "youre in troubleee"'s from the glass and grunted in annoyance. Sometimes her classmates got so...immature. The man spoke to her sincerely and in sorrow.  
"Pepper..." he started to say, "your dad got in an...accident, at work. I'm so sorry." he explained. Pepper gasped and looked down to the floor and turned away from the formally dressed man she knew as her father's boss. "I'll take you to the hospital if you'd like." he offered. Pepper wiped a tear from her cheek and nodded. _An accident? That had never happened before, he's always been so careful while at work…_Pepper worried.

Pepper and the grey-suited guy came to the attendance office.

"On behalf of the FBI, I have to take Pepper Potts out of school for the rest of the day." He explained as he held up his badge. The secretary nodded and marked the attendance correctly.

They came to a van once they got outside, and Pepper climbed into the back seat and watched as her school became farther and father in the distance. When they got to the hospital, the receptionist explained where Mr. Virgil Potts was located and they went to see him. His door was being guarded by two FBI agents.

"Virgil's daughter is here to see him." He explained to the guards. They nodded and opened the door. Pepper was silent as she walked in to see her father, fully wrapped up, and unconscious in his bed. The doctor walked in after her to examine his current state.

"The doctor's going to be here in a moment, Pepper. Everything's gonna be okay." One of the guards assured her.

"Dad?" pepper approached his bedside. "Dad? Are you…" the doctor came in the room.

"Excuse me, miss Potts?" He asked.

"I, uhh…is my dad okay?" Pepper asked with fear.

"He was banged up pretty bad but he's gonna be fine. He's on medication, so he'll be sleeping for a few days. But otherwise he should make a full recovery." The doctor explained.

"What happened?" Pepper asked quietly.

"I really don't know. The injuries are unusual, and the FBI aren't talking," his pager went off, "did your dad work with power lines by any chance?"

"Excuse me, I'll be right back." He walked out. Pepper approached her father's bedside slowly and fearfully. Suddenly, his eyes flickered open quickly.

"Huh?" He gasped. When he opened his eyes he saw his daughter standing over him.

"Dad? What happened? What's going on? Power lines? Did someone do this to you?" Pepper asked. Virgil winced as she leaned down by his bedside.

"Mr…" he groaned quietly, "Mr. Fix." He finished, then fell back asleep. Pepper stood in panic.

"Somebody help me!" She yelled. The doctor walked back in.

"It's okay," he checked Virgil's vitals, "this is just the body's way of healing itself." He explained.

"hey!" a new voice came in, sounding annoyed. Tony, with Rhodey. She felt flattered that he came to see her and her dad, but at the same time felt angered with him. Tony looked over to see Pepper's dad.

"Pepper…I'm sorry," he said.

"Why do you care?" Pepper crossed her arms and walked out, leaving a baffled Tony behind. She walked out into the lobby to see her mother just about to ask where Virgil Potts was located; her parents had divorced when Pepper was just 10, but they were still good friends. Pepper could understand her mother's concern.

"Pepper, oh, you're already here," Georgia, Pepper's mother, said in relief.

"Yeah. Dad's boss came to school and brought me here." Pepper explained, still sounding mad.

"How is he?" Georgia asked.

"Unconscious." Pepper grunted.

"Pepper, honey, you sound mad. What's wrong?" Georgia asked.

"Oh, it's Tony! He never pays attention to me normally, and then this all happens and he walks in saying that he's sorry! It's irritating, why did he suddenly decide to care?" Pepper complained.

"Pepper, honey, he does care about you! It probably seems like he ignores you, but sometimes that's just a boy's way of hiding his feelings. Besides, boys are just like that sometimes. Honey, it's all part of life." Georgia explained. Pepper relaxed her shoulders.

"You think so?" Pepper asked. Georgia nodded.

"Come on, I'm going to see your father quickly and we can go for lunch or something." Georgia offered. Pepper nodded.

"That sounds nice." Pepper put her phone on silent.

~…~

"i'm a total jerk, I'm always blowing Pepper off, never taking her seriously."

"She's still not answering her cell," Rhodey hung up, "maybe she's with her mom." He explained. Tony was working.

"I don't even know her mom's name," Tony complained. He felt like he was ignoring her too often, and didn't bother with her at all when the reality was he wanted to get to know her a little better.

"The FBI regarding Pepper's dad…do you think someone did this to him? And if so, what's Pepper gonna do?" Rhodey asked.

"It's Pepper, she's not just going to sit around," Tony rested his hand on the wall and paused a moment. Pepper was strong, smart and curious. There's no way she wouldn't do something about it.

"And neither am i."

~…~

**(A/N: K, hope you don't mind, but I'm kinda gonna skip over a few parts here. I wanna get past them.)**

As Pepper ran from the black ops and their vans, she dialed Tony's cell. If he didn't pick this up, he was going to get it later.

"Come on, come on, Pick up!" she complained as she ran.

"What do you think Pepper wanted before? She said she wanted to talk to me in private." Tony wondered. He was that bit curious to know if she was going to ask him something he'd wanted her to ask him, something about him, or them.

"She probably just wanted you to listen to her for once. I hear friends do that. Not you, but friends in general. Where are you even going?" Rhodey finished teasing.

"I hacked into the ambulance company that picked up Pepper's dad. I thought I'd check out where I found them. It sounded like she wanted me to do something for her," Tony could only stay concentrated on his female friend.

"Oh, Pepper's calling. You should probably get it this time." Rhodey interrupted.

"I'm routing the call to the armor," There was silence for a moment, "Pepper?" on the other end, Pepper heard Tony's sweet voice over her phone and suddenly forgot why she'd been mad at him earlier, "I'm on thruway with Rhodey, are you?" he asked.

"Tony! In the city...running…guns!" Pepper ran into an alley.

"What?" She heard simultaneously from her male friends, "okay, this time more words!" Tony said. Pepper stopped next to a dumpster.

"My dad was investigating some guy, Mr. Fix, some sort of, ughh, inventor. He's a high-tech arms dealer, he supplies guys like the Maggia. All I did was type his name into the FBI mainframe and now I've got black ops guys CHASING ME!" Pepper explained. A van appeared at the head of the alley. Pepper screamed and started running again.

"I'm isolating Pepper's cell phone signal, do you see it?" Tony asked to Rhodey.

"Got it, I see her! What is this, satellite inventory?" Rhodey asked.

"I'll thank NASA later. We have to buy her some time till I get over there." Tony explained.

"Pepper, it's Rhodey. Head down 43rd street, then cut through the alley. The vans can't get through there." Pepper did as she was told but wondered how Rhodey had known exactly where she was. And she'd heard Tony talking to Rhodey, something about thanking NASA? What were they up to?

Pepper was intersected by more black ops that started shooting at her, so she ran down the alley. They ran after her on foot, still shooting.

"Pepper! Cut through the building, it'll take you to 42nd street!" Pepper ran to the doors by the side of the building and tried opening them.

"Guhh! It's locked! Thanks a lot, Rhodey! Oh, are there any dead-end allys you can take me to? Or maybe I should just hide in the bad guys' van! They'd never catch me in there!" Pepper complained as she pushed on the door.

"Pick the lock! Use a credit card or kick it in!" Rhodey panicked. The black ops guys were getting closer. Pepper could see a flashlight. Pepper looked around in a panic. She found a cinderblock surrounded by glass, and a window. She picked up the cinderblock and smashed the window. She proceeded to climb through the window frame and into the building.

"Pepper!" Rhodey panicked more as he heard the sound of a window smashing.

"Or smash a window," Rhodey said, "that works too." Pepper kicked down the door to the main streets of the city and stopped. She put her phone back to her ear.

"Rhodey, I think I lost them," Pepper was wronged when she saw the black van driving up the street, firing their guns at her. She screamed and ran. They followed her up the street, still shooting, when Pepper heard the sound of metal tipping. She turned her head as she ran to see the van crashing into a street lamp and completely turned over. It almost sounded like Iron Man…then another black van pulled up in front of Pepper and more black ops guys came out, aiming guns at her. Right as they started shooting, Pepper threw herself to the ground and covered her head in her arms. She heard metal pings. She looked up to see…Iron Man! _He came just for me! It's almost like he knows me…_

"Pepper! Get to Rhodey's house, you'll be safe there." He said as he fended off the black ops. Pepper stood, confused as to how he knew her name, and ran towards Rhodey's house. The van still followed her, and was still shooting at her. She ran in fear as she thought of how weird it was that the voice of Iron Man sounded oddly similar to that of Tony's, and how he knew Rhodey…

"Guys, are you still there?" Pepper groaned.

"Okay, if you're still there, I'm on my way to Rhodey's house! Repeat: I'm on my way to Rhodey's house!" Pepper hoped they were still listening, because that was something they'd rather like to know.

Pepper ran through another alley, where the vans followed her, and to the street again, where the vans followed her. They shot at her all the way.

Suddenly, she felt herself lift off the ground. She looked up off the street to the Iron Man who was carrying her.

"You're going to be okay now, Pep-uhh, ma'am. Whoever you are." Tony stopped himself from saying her name. Sometimes he just couldn't help himself. He liked hearing her name.

"Thanks…Tony." Pepper closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment.

"Tony? Uhh, I think you have me confused with someone else." But what he was really thinking: _how the heck does she know it's me?_

"Relax, I know it's you. I'm not stupid, my dad _is_ a professional investigator, remember?" Pepper said. She'd forgotten all about her dad being in the hospital. Honestly speaking, now that she was the damsel in distress, it didn't faze her as it should. She had more to worry about. "and besides," she said innocently, "_no one _goes to the bathroom as much as Tony Stark does." There was silence as Tony shortly debated whether to tell her or not. He finally decided on telling her. He'd wanted to for a long time, after all. He opened his face plate.

"How long have you known?" Tony asked. Pepper smiled widely. A rush of emotions swelled in her head.

"I didn't! Oh, man but I do now! I can't believe you're really Iron Man! I can't believe you fell for that! I thought maybe you were, I mean, I tried to ask you, but…wow! Whew, we're flying…this is so awesome!" Pepper took in her surroundings as Tony stopped. He couldn't believe she tricked him into that.

"You stink, Pepper. I'll take you to Rhodey's house, he'll meet you there. But when all this is over I'll ha I mean, ve to wipe your memory." Tony teased. He smiled.

"Really?" Pepper asked. Tony loved how gullible she could be sometimes.

"No," Tony laughed, "but I'm thinking about dropping you." They flew the rest of the way to Rhodey's and Tony dropped her by the front door. The whole time, of course, Rhodey was still on the comm. Systems, and heard every word they'd said. He smiled and sat back in his chair. They were finally starting to clear the air with their relationship.

"Rhodey should be right inside. I have to go." Tony explained.

"Where are you going?" Pepper asked.

"I have some…unfinished business to attend to." Tony flew off. Pepper ran to Rhodey's front door and walked immediately inside.

"Rhodey, It's me, I'm alive. I know-" she spotted Rhodey, sitting on the floor, tied with what looked like metal chains. And when she saw who they were connected to, her whole body was filled with fear. Where was Tony when you needed him?

"Oh no…Rhodey! Pepper jumped back and Rhodey tried to grunt something.

"Hello, Pepper. You look just like your dad." A tall, full-metal man said. He released Rhodey by throwing him to the ground. Rhodey recovered and stood.

"Mr. Fix?" Pepper asked.

"Not quite. Mr. Fix made my arm for me. Now I'm working off my debt; odd jobs, like…shutting up nosy teenage girls," he threatened as he pulled out two metal chains from either hand. Pepper's phone went off, and as she looked to the caller ID, she stared at the threatening man in fear.

"Ooh, one sec. I have to get this." The tall man waited impatiently.

"Hello?" Pepper said.

"Pepper? Duck!" Tony advised as he crashed through the wall, into Mr. Fix's assistant, and through another wall. Rhodey sighed. He was going to have a tough time explaining that one to his mom. They ran outside.

Once they got out, however, Iron Man was on the ground and not moving, and Mr. Fix's assistant was threatening them.

"Please, make it interesting. Run." He said, then started whipping at them. Rhodey and Pepper ran.

"Pepper, come on!" Rhiodey yelled.

"I never realized your dad was still alive. Otherwise I would have finished the job. He actually found Mr. Fix impressive," he formed a fist, "but fatal." Pepper followed Rhodey into some sort of abandoned factory compound; unfortunately so did Whiplash.

"Pepper, hide!" Pepper found a hiding place. She shook with unbearable fear as she heard Whiplash's voice accompanied by his clanking footsteps.

"Iron Man showing up to save you is pretty lucky, girl. Or…do you know who he is?" Whiplash said. _She doesn't know who Iron Man is, does she? _Rhodey thought, confused. Then he remembered that as of earlier in the day, she had figured out. "or I guess it doesn't matter now since-" Whiplash was cut off by Rhodey throwing an old TV at him and jumping on him.

"Pepper, run!" Rhodey warned. Whiplash caught Rhodey by his foot. But it didn't matter to Rhodey because he saw Pepper run out.

"Don't you know, kid? Being a hero only gets you-" he was interrupted by his own comm. System.

"What? I'm right in the middle of this," Whiplash complained.

"_The girl, Whiplash. She's escaping right now as you waste time." _Rhodey heard through Whiplash's comm. Whiplash dropped Rhodey, who landed on the ground with an echoing thud. Rhodey sat up, rubbing his head.

Pepper ran to the distraught Iron Man suit laying on the ground and bent down to wake Tony up.

"Please, please please please be okay. Please help us," Pepper shook his head lightly and grabbed the neck to better wake him up, "wake up!" she placed her hands on either cheek. If she had to perform CPR, she would do it right here right now. Anything to get him to wake up. When the face mask opened, Pepper found no one inside the armor. She gasped. Then she heard clanking footsteps approach from behind her. She slowly looked over her shoulder. When she saw him she immediately stood.

"You really, should have run," his whips slid out, "nothing personal." He raised his whip to strike her, but before he could do so, he felt something holding his whip. They looked up to see…Iron Man? They both looked to the distraught suit of armor, and to the living one.

"How…who?" Whiplash asked.

"Don't strain yourself." Iron Man said, pulling Whiplash up by his whip and tossing him to the ground with a punch. Pepper watched everything play out in front of her, not frozen in fear this time, but more fear for Tony's safety as she watched him battle Whiplash on her behalf. She felt the wind from the fighting blow her hair into her face, and as Tony saw her out of the corner of his eyes, he was tempted to push it back gently; but he knew he was busy.

Suddenly, Pepper saw Rhodey slowly walking out of the factory. She ran to him.

"Rhodey, are you okay?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, where's Tony?" He asked.

"Fighting!" Pepper explained.

"What?" Rhodey looked over to see Tony battling with Whiplash.

"We have to get out of here, Pepper, it's not safe here!" Rhodey led her inside his house.

"But, what about Tony?" Pepper asked.

"Tony will be fine! Come on, we have to get out of here!" Rhodey led her into his house.

"James! Where have you been all day, and why is this giant hole in the wall?" Roberta asked.

"Uhh, I was…studying, after school, with Tony! Yeah, he's just finishing up his work. And as for the hole in the wall, it was so bizarre! Iron Man came right through here fighting some evil guy, I don't know where they came from! Right, Pepper?" Rhodey said.

"I thought-" Pepper began. Rhodey nudged her. "uuh, yeah! It was totally random!"

"If that's your story…" Roberta sighed.

"Oh, and Pepper, I got a call just now. Your father just woke up, and the police are on their way over to bring you to see him." Roberta explained.

"My dad is okay? That's great! But why did they call here?" Pepper asked.

"I guess they called your mother and your mother said you were here." Roberta explained.

"That's awesome!" Pepper said, filled with relief and joy. Rhodey and Pepper sat down to dinner with Roberta while they waited for Tony and the police. After a while, the police came and talked to Roberta about Virgil's situation and Tony went upstairs to eat his meal.

"Pepper's dad woke up. He's going to be okay. The police are downstairs, and they're going to take her to see him. Do you think Mr. Fix will come after them again?" Rhodey was just that little bit curious as to what the future would bring.

"No, the trail's cold. They're no threat to them now." Tony explained tiredly. He just wanted to rest easy knowing his female friend was safe from harm under his wing.

"But Iron Man is." Rhodey stated.

"He's seriously a genius, Rhodey. And right now he's probably coming up with a billion new super weapons to take me down. Unless I stop him." The boys didn't know that Pepper had decided that while the police were still talking to Roberta, Pepper had decided to go upstairs to talk with her friends.

"You mean we, right?" she budded in, "I can't believe you nerds didn't tell me, couldn't you trust me? I'm crazy trustworthy! I could have totally helped you fight crime weeks ago. Ooh, we should be fighting crime right now!" Pepper babbled.

"Pepper!" Tony and Rhodey hissed.

"Sorry," Pepper chilled out a bit, "but seriously, why didn't you tell me?" Pepper asked. Why hadn't they the capability to leave her with Tony's secret?

"I tried to tell you a million times, but you won't stop talking long enough to let me." Tony explained. Pepper was dumbfounded. They trusted her!

"I…what…oh…seriously?" Pepper was filled with extreme joy. _The _Tony Stark trusted her with his deepest, most private secret. This was probably the greatest day of her life.

"I, uhh..be right back! Nature's calling and stuff, right?"Pepper dashed out of the room, out the front door and all the way to her house. She ran up to her bedroom, closed her bedroom door and bounced around happily.  
"He trusts me, he trusts me! He really really truuusts me, uh huh! Yeeeahhh!" Pepper ran all the way back to Rhodey's house, past the police and Roberta downstairs, and back up to Tony's room.  
"Anyways, what were we talking about?" Pepper asked with a smile.

**Pshh, yeah I incorporated one of my one-shots into the ending. It fit so well. I think this one was a bit long, it's like, 9 pages on Word. That's kinda a lot. I usually only fill three or four. Anyways, review!**

**oh, and I reiterate: I own nothing. **


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